20th Century Fox cuts ‘Predator’ scene featuring child sex offender actor
20th Century Fox has purged one scene from its upcoming ‘Predator’ movie after it was discovered that one of the actors is a registered child sex offender. The director apologized when it emerged he knew about the conviction.
The scene was cut after executives were made aware that actor Steven Wilder Striegel is a registered sex offender. Striegel played a minor role in the film, featuring in only one scene.
“When the studio learned the details, his one scene in the film was removed within 24 hours,” Fox said in a statement as cited by Variety. “We were not aware of his background during the casting process due to legal limitations that impede studios from running background checks on actors.”
Actress and ‘Predator’ star Olivia Munn, who acted in the scene with Striegel, learned of the actor’s conviction as a child sex offender and alerted the studio on August 15.
In addition to this statement, the @latimes also reported that Wilder said Shane was “aware of the facts” of his arrest. He made a “personal choice” to continually work with a convicted sex offender, but I didn’t have a choice. That decision was made for me. And that’s not okay. https://t.co/AHAyV19tJq
— om (@oliviamunn) September 6, 2018
According to The Los Angeles Times, Predator director James Black was aware of Striegel’s status as a sex offender at the time he hired him. Striegel has previously appeared in several films directed by Black, including ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘The Nice Guys.’
“Having read this morning’s news reports, it has sadly become clear to me that I was misled by a friend I really wanted to believe was telling me the truth when he described the circumstances of his conviction,” Black said. ”I believe strongly in giving people second chances – but sometimes you discover that chance is not as warranted as you may have hoped.”
“After learning more about the affidavit, transcripts and additional details surrounding Steve Striegel’s sentence, I am deeply disappointed in myself. I apologise to all of those, past and present, I’ve let down by having Steve around them without giving them a voice in the decision,” Black added.
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Striegel pleaded guilty to two felony counts of ‘risk of injury to a child’ and ‘enticing a minor by computer,’ for his internet relationship with a 14-year-old Connecticut girl in 2009. Messages between the two were found by the girl’s father who alerted authorities. Striegel was later convicted of both charges in 2010 and served six months in jail.
The (edited) film debuted Thursday at the Toronto International Film Festival and is due for general release on September 14.
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